In the first half of 2026, Nigeria's bond market became a mirror of the nation's economic condition — reflecting not crisis, but the quiet strain of an economy borrowing its way forward at a steep price. From electricity infrastructure to climate-resilient roads, public agencies and private firms raised hundreds of billions of naira, each accepting coupon rates between 15.5 and 20 percent as the honest cost of capital in a high-inflation, tight-money environment. The borrowing did not stop, but neither did the underlying pressures that made it so expensive — leaving the second half of the year